Mahmoud A. ElSohly, Ph.D., is President and founder of PSI. He serves as Research Professor in the National Center for Natural Products Research, Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Professor of Pharmaceutics in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Mississippi. Dr. ElSohly is the director of the Marijuana Project at the University of Mississippi, which is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Dr. ElSohly received a B.S. in Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Chemistry and a M.S. in Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences from Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt, and a Ph.D. in Pharmacognosy from the University of Pittsburgh. He is board certified by the American Board of Forensic Medicine (BCFM) and the American College of Forensic Examiners (BCFE).
Dr. ElSohly holds more than 30 patents dealing with the processing, testing, and detection of drugs of abuse along with other patents dealing with biologically active natural products and compositions for the treatment of cancer and other in the diagnostics area. He has authored over 250 scholarly articles and more than 200 presentations at scientific meetings of professional societies relative to drug discovery, analysis, and metabolism, and many of his articles deal with forensic issues of drugs of abuse. He is constantly presenting his research findings at national and international scientific conferences. He is a member of many scholarly scientific societies and was recognized by The Scientist (April 17, 1995) and Science Watch (January, 1995) as the second most cited author in forensic sciences in the world for the period 1981-1993. Dr. ElSohly is also recognized in the Journal of Analytical Toxicology (October issue, 2004) as being one of the top ten (3rd and 4th) Most Cited Authors and Most Prolific Authors in the journal between 1981 and 2003.
Dr. ElSohly received a B.S. in Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Chemistry and a M.S. in Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences from Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt, and a Ph.D. in Pharmacognosy from the University of Pittsburgh. He is board certified by the American Board of Forensic Medicine (BCFM) and the American College of Forensic Examiners (BCFE).
Dr. ElSohly holds more than 30 patents dealing with the processing, testing, and detection of drugs of abuse along with other patents dealing with biologically active natural products and compositions for the treatment of cancer and other in the diagnostics area. He has authored over 250 scholarly articles and more than 200 presentations at scientific meetings of professional societies relative to drug discovery, analysis, and metabolism, and many of his articles deal with forensic issues of drugs of abuse. He is constantly presenting his research findings at national and international scientific conferences. He is a member of many scholarly scientific societies and was recognized by The Scientist (April 17, 1995) and Science Watch (January, 1995) as the second most cited author in forensic sciences in the world for the period 1981-1993. Dr. ElSohly is also recognized in the Journal of Analytical Toxicology (October issue, 2004) as being one of the top ten (3rd and 4th) Most Cited Authors and Most Prolific Authors in the journal between 1981 and 2003.
Larry A. Walker, PhD., Partner
Dr. Walker retired in 2016 after 15 years as Director of the National Center for Natural Products Research (NCNPR) at the University of Mississippi, and having served as faculty member at Ole Miss for 35 years. His undergraduate pharmacy degree is from Mercer University (1975), and his doctorate in Pharmacology from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in 1979, He has worked for much of his career on natural products drug discovery, pharmacology, toxicology and metabolism. Dr. Walker is a co-author of more than 175 papers in peer-reviewed journals in pharmacology, toxicology, and natural products discovery. He is a member of the American Society of Pharmacognosy, American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, American Society of Microbiology, American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, and the Society for Biomolecular Screening. He received the University’s second Distinguished Research and Creative Achievement Award in 2009, and the School of Pharmacy’s Researcher of the Year Award in 2003. He works as a consultant for pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and botanical supplement industries. |
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Waseem Gul. Ph.D., C. Chem, Associate Director of Research
Dr. Gul is responsible for the synthesis of a variety of standards and internal standards and new chemical entities, as well as structure modification of drug substances used in the laboratory’s drug discovery and development activities for treatment of a variety of diseases. The compounds are characterized by spectroscopic analysis (1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, 2D-NMR such as COSY, HMQC, HMBC etc.,) using NMR equipment (300, 400, 500 MHz), LC/MS/MS, HREIMS, GC/MS, GC/MS-FID, IR, UV and X-ray Crystallography studies. Dr. Gul is also involved in the development of procedures for the analysis of drugs and drug metabolites in biological specimens using a variety of analytical equipments e.g. GC/MS, HREIMS, UFLC-MS/MS, UPLC-MS/MS, HPLC-UV, HPLC-ELSD etc. and assumes responsibilities in research areas directed towards solving problems presented by our clients.
Dr. Gul has Bachelor in Science (chemistry), Master in Science (organic chemistry) from the University of Peshawar, and Ph.D. in chemistry from Gomal University in Pakistan. All Ph.D. work was done at the University of Calgary, AB, Canada in Professor M.H. Benn’s group.
Prior to employment with ELI in 2003, Dr. Gul served as senior chemist at AGAT Laboratories, Calgary, AB, Canada, and postdoctoral research associate at the University of Calgary, AB, Canada and University of Mississippi, USA.
Dr. Gul has more than 50 scientific publications and more than 70 presentations at scientific meetings of professional societies. He currently holds five issued patents (compositions for the treatment of cancer and others in the diagnostics area). Other patent applications are currently pending. His awards include American Crystallographic Association Travel Award to attend Annual Meeting, St. Louis, Missouri, 1997, invited entry in Who’s Who in the World, 2009, and Research Support Awards from National Institute of Health,(Composition for Prevention/Prophylactic Treatment of Poison Ivy Contact Dermatitis, Phase I, 2006-2007) and (Transmucosal Intra-Oral Drug Delivery System for THC, Phase II, 2008-2010). He is a member of the American Chemical Society, Society of Forensic Toxicologists, American Society of Pharmacognosy, Association of the Chemical Profession of Ontario and affiliate member of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry and is a regular reviewer for many journals.
Dr. Gul is responsible for the synthesis of a variety of standards and internal standards and new chemical entities, as well as structure modification of drug substances used in the laboratory’s drug discovery and development activities for treatment of a variety of diseases. The compounds are characterized by spectroscopic analysis (1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, 2D-NMR such as COSY, HMQC, HMBC etc.,) using NMR equipment (300, 400, 500 MHz), LC/MS/MS, HREIMS, GC/MS, GC/MS-FID, IR, UV and X-ray Crystallography studies. Dr. Gul is also involved in the development of procedures for the analysis of drugs and drug metabolites in biological specimens using a variety of analytical equipments e.g. GC/MS, HREIMS, UFLC-MS/MS, UPLC-MS/MS, HPLC-UV, HPLC-ELSD etc. and assumes responsibilities in research areas directed towards solving problems presented by our clients.
Dr. Gul has Bachelor in Science (chemistry), Master in Science (organic chemistry) from the University of Peshawar, and Ph.D. in chemistry from Gomal University in Pakistan. All Ph.D. work was done at the University of Calgary, AB, Canada in Professor M.H. Benn’s group.
Prior to employment with ELI in 2003, Dr. Gul served as senior chemist at AGAT Laboratories, Calgary, AB, Canada, and postdoctoral research associate at the University of Calgary, AB, Canada and University of Mississippi, USA.
Dr. Gul has more than 50 scientific publications and more than 70 presentations at scientific meetings of professional societies. He currently holds five issued patents (compositions for the treatment of cancer and others in the diagnostics area). Other patent applications are currently pending. His awards include American Crystallographic Association Travel Award to attend Annual Meeting, St. Louis, Missouri, 1997, invited entry in Who’s Who in the World, 2009, and Research Support Awards from National Institute of Health,(Composition for Prevention/Prophylactic Treatment of Poison Ivy Contact Dermatitis, Phase I, 2006-2007) and (Transmucosal Intra-Oral Drug Delivery System for THC, Phase II, 2008-2010). He is a member of the American Chemical Society, Society of Forensic Toxicologists, American Society of Pharmacognosy, Association of the Chemical Profession of Ontario and affiliate member of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry and is a regular reviewer for many journals.
Kareem M. ElSohly M.B.A., Quality Assurance/Special Projects Manager
Kareem ElSohly is a graduate of the University of Mississippi where he received a B.A. in Business Management with an emphasis in Organizational Behavior along with a minor in Marketing in December, 2004 and an MBA from Delta State University in 2011. Kareem has experience in the extraction and method development of benzodiazepines, as well as the synthesis and purification of drugs & pro-drugs. His work on benzodiazepines led to three publications in the Journal of Analytical Toxicology. He has six publications which include one oral presentation, with others involving benzodiazepines, methylhexylamine, N-ethyl-α-ethyl-phenethylamine, synthetic cannabinoids, 11-Nor-D9-THCV-COOH as a marker of cannabis use. He manages laboratory supplies, equipment, reporting client analytical data, organizing client records, full-fill customer orders, managing internal Quality control software program. He supervises the QC (Quality Control) program-manufacturing, certification, stability and shipping of materials to the clients. He monitors the stability of QC batches and assure compliance with specifications. He also reviews QC records, analytical batch data for QA/QC purposes, and participates in the development and validation of new analytical procedures. He being the safety officer, oversees the safety program of the entire laboratory. He coordinates projects between customers and the analytical (GC, GC/MS) and analytical 2 (LC/MS/MS, UPLC/MS/MS, HPLC-UV/ELSD, GC-FID) labs.
Kareem ElSohly is a graduate of the University of Mississippi where he received a B.A. in Business Management with an emphasis in Organizational Behavior along with a minor in Marketing in December, 2004 and an MBA from Delta State University in 2011. Kareem has experience in the extraction and method development of benzodiazepines, as well as the synthesis and purification of drugs & pro-drugs. His work on benzodiazepines led to three publications in the Journal of Analytical Toxicology. He has six publications which include one oral presentation, with others involving benzodiazepines, methylhexylamine, N-ethyl-α-ethyl-phenethylamine, synthetic cannabinoids, 11-Nor-D9-THCV-COOH as a marker of cannabis use. He manages laboratory supplies, equipment, reporting client analytical data, organizing client records, full-fill customer orders, managing internal Quality control software program. He supervises the QC (Quality Control) program-manufacturing, certification, stability and shipping of materials to the clients. He monitors the stability of QC batches and assure compliance with specifications. He also reviews QC records, analytical batch data for QA/QC purposes, and participates in the development and validation of new analytical procedures. He being the safety officer, oversees the safety program of the entire laboratory. He coordinates projects between customers and the analytical (GC, GC/MS) and analytical 2 (LC/MS/MS, UPLC/MS/MS, HPLC-UV/ELSD, GC-FID) labs.